RED Matthews
Well-Known Member
Now that is again - a loaded question. I have collected so long and so many that I couldn't possibly pick out a best favorite. I have collected most of my glass objects to represent something that intrigues me about when, where, and how they were made. Things like why they were made and how they did their jobs intrigues me but also so does the marks on the item that I depend on to tell me how they were made.
I started with milks, then insulators, then just pieces of colored glass from early melted chunks. From there I got into the case gins, because they were so needed to meet the demand, that the process of making them fast enough made development of better molding methods happen. This same thing happened to soda bottles, whiskey flasks, and mineral water bottles. When I got involved with making big molds for advertizing show pieces - like an Old Forrester whiskey bottle that is 25" tall and labeled with over size specially made labels, caps and then never filled with a product - they became interesting to the point that I have at least fourty or fifty of them for all kinds of product advertizing and only got to set in some liquor store's window to be justified - those iron molds were heavy castings to machine and carry around a mold shop.
My oldest bottle was no doubt made before 100 AD and my best one is a hand blown demijohn, with an open blowpipe pontil on it. It has been a lifetime hobby for me. RED Matthews
I started with milks, then insulators, then just pieces of colored glass from early melted chunks. From there I got into the case gins, because they were so needed to meet the demand, that the process of making them fast enough made development of better molding methods happen. This same thing happened to soda bottles, whiskey flasks, and mineral water bottles. When I got involved with making big molds for advertizing show pieces - like an Old Forrester whiskey bottle that is 25" tall and labeled with over size specially made labels, caps and then never filled with a product - they became interesting to the point that I have at least fourty or fifty of them for all kinds of product advertizing and only got to set in some liquor store's window to be justified - those iron molds were heavy castings to machine and carry around a mold shop.
My oldest bottle was no doubt made before 100 AD and my best one is a hand blown demijohn, with an open blowpipe pontil on it. It has been a lifetime hobby for me. RED Matthews
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